Heating coal-gas-retort chambers and the like.



J. IVI. RUSBY.

HEATNG COAL GAS RETORT CHAMBERS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATsoN 1111111111112?, 1914.

W/ 77?' 15263531 M/ PEA/T01? f ducers.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE..

JOHN M. RUSBY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSlGNOR TO THE UNITED GAS IMPROVEMENT COMIANY, 0F PHILADELIHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

HEATING COAL-GAS-RETORT CHAMBERS' AND THE LIKE.

T0 all whom, 'it may concern:

IBe it known thatl, JOHN M. RUSBY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain' new and useful Improvements in Heating Coal-Gas-Retort Chambers and the like, of which the following is a specification.

In the operation of coal gas apparatus it has always been' necessary to employ some' device for controlling the temperature of the solid fuel burning producers which serve for the heating of this apparatus; this temperature controll is necessary because of the presence of ash in this solid fuel, and because of the tendency of this ash to fuse, at high temperature, and aggravate into masses of clinker, which cause serious trouble; also, temperature control is necessary in order to y avoid injury to the brick, or other refractory material, of which the producer is constructed It has long been common art to pass steam through the producer fuel bed for `the pur'- pose of lowering the temperature of the fuel bed, and thus avoiding the foregoing high temperature troubles; this steam in its passage through the fuel bed is wholly, or in part, decomposed into its chemical con- 'stituents with simultaneousabsorption of heat from the fuel bed; steam is a very suitable material to use for this cooling of the fire, since the volume that is required to effect a given temperature reduction in the fire is comparatively small in respect to other agents that have been used or suggested for that purpose, and this steam can be easily supplied and passed through the lire. Furthermore, however, the types of apparatus which has been recently introduced for coal gas manufacture are of such large.size, and subjected to such heavy pressures of weight of material, that the existence of high temperatures is more dangerous to the `structural material than formerly. and it is nov.1 found necessary to obtain a control of the temperatures not only in the producer fuel bed, but also in the retort chambers in which is consumed,V for heating, the gas which is generated in the procalculation that the steam which, as inthe foregoing. has heretofore been used for the Specification of Letters Patent.

Now it canbe shown by accurate V Patented May 18, 1915.

Application led June 27, 1914. Serial No. 847,566.

control of the producer fuel bed temperature also has an effect in lowering the temperature yielded by final combustion of the producer gas in the retort chamber: consequently a sufficient lowering of the temperature in the retort chamber could be attained by the passage of a sufhciently large quantity of steam` through the producer bed. The following important facts, however, are to be observed. Steam is, of course, expensive, requiring the cost of fuel for its evaporation, and whatever Vsteam is used is finally discharged to the atmosphere at the stack and wasted, thus causing a loss of this heat required for its evaporation, and also whatever sensible heat it contains above this temperature of evaporation. Also, it is deisrable, in order to obtain the best quality of producer gas and the most thorough utilization of the steam supplied, to not reduce the temperature of the producer fuel bed below the point which will insure free-v dom from clinker and prevention of destruction of the refractory material of the furnace. In respect to the tendency to form clinker, and vconsequently the temperature required. different fuels will vary very greatly, as will also the abili-ty of the ma;

terials of which the producer is construct to withstand high temperature; for instance with a fuel approximating to pure carbon, and with the best grade of material employed in the construction of the producer,' both the fuel bed and the structural material would endure the maximum tempera.- ture attainable in combustion and cons-A- quently no cooling of the fire, and no steam supply thereto, would be required, whereas.

under different fuel and structural material conditions, the required cooling of the fuel I primary air beneath'A ployed and the character'f'ofjthe material of the producer and need not'eX- ceed that quantity', and that the use of steam should be combined with acheaper andmor-e satisfactory method vto separatelyand simultaneously control the temperature of the .retort chamber to any extentwhatev'er which may be required.

he principal object ofthe present inven-y tion is therefore to more economically, more eiciently and separately or independently control the temperature yof the fire so as. to. Th

avoid theformation of elinkers` to the producer,y retort chamber so as to avoid undue' local or excessive heating o f the structural materials and injury and to effect therein anniform distribution b of heat or regulation or. control, of'tempera.- ture effect of secondary combustion or retort heating. v

To this, and other ends hereinafter set forth the inventioncompriseshe process of heating coal gas retort or coa carbonizing chambers which .consists in generating producer gas from fuel with' air, burning the producer 'gas with secondary air in the retort chamber and separatelycontrolling the ire and chamber tcmpera'tures'- bypassing sufficient steam through the .fire to keepv its temperature below thatwhichwillcause the formation of clin'kers or injure theproducer and by adding' tothe combustion ofthe' producer gasan appropriate incombustible diluent, whereby passed through the firev asis required for the avoidance of clinkers, and whereby little or no power is .required for thezintroduction of the incombustible ,diluent which vmay be products of combustion, whileI at the same time the bench is operated economically, eflifhroughthefire or bamiagfa'el bed. l

` d gvice' for introducing 1n the producer 3^ yf -thelpa's's'age ofgair 4, 1s a meterlng'j 5, 1s 'means 'fuit introducing secondary air into the"ljetort"cheu gber 1L x 4It is slown as connectedgwithftherecuperator 6, so that producer gasfrisiii'glffrom the `roducer 3 n ileets thesecondary air t e the retort chamber to7, and Ithen traversing the recuperator 6, iinally- ,reaching *the stack 8.

9, is a steam meter having a regulatable structural Si and the tenviperature of the temperature are independ only so much steam Vis amai-'ion with which be forced 'past fre returns `nda'ry air, so that all eventuallylost upthe stack,l whereasprodl ucts of combustion returned above 'the fire,4J as described, are continually circulated andl 'ed or' supported i at 5.1111, is burned, PIOClUbS DfCOmbustion passing through t connection for passing steam beneath the gratey and through the fire or burning fuel bed. Incombustlble products of combustion' may be taken' from vthe exit of -the retort chamber and added to the burning products of combustion of the .producer gas byway of the vpassage 10 and metering device 11, or

incombustible products of combustion may be takenafter they -leave the recuperator and are on their way to the stack by way of the passage 12 of the metering device 11.

e position of thel slide valve 13 determines from which source the incombustible prodi ucts of. combustion'are taken for supplying the opening ofthe metering device 11. The slide valve 13 maybe positioned as desired y-'means ofarod that'can be. introduced through the stoppered opening 14. '11, ist a sol guage which completes the metering device vl1. A jet of steam, `or the like, 11 for delivering the of combustion.

In the practice vof the invention yand for all ,practical purposes, the control of. the

15 may be. used in' connection ywith the metering device I `incombustible products retort chamber temperature and .ofthe fire ent. Inasmuch'as the incombustible diluent is added to the `combustion of the producer gas, it follows ,i that the ldiluentdoes not pass through the lire, which is advanta sst'ance of'fthe fuel be eous because the re- 'isconsiderable and 1t would require power bustible diluent .through-it. 'Furthermore, steam being underpressure can be inexpensively put-through the fire because its pressure, which is cheaply attainedllis sn'iicient to overcome the i Moreover only. the steam necessary -to avoid clinkers, or undue heating control effected tible diluent, which 'may be products of combustion obtainable without cost and cheaply apphed when introduced in the manner-def "s crlbed at a point where they do not have theresistance of the fuel bed.` f

to force the incom'l resistance of the -fuel bed.l

of the producer, may be usedv and the rest of. thetemperature by of the incombus- Furthermore any steam decomposed in the to steam` when itmeetsr'the secsteam intro u'ped isreturned andno heat is last.l`

By way of further explanation it 'may be said that with some i l20 'l *l fuels, the amount of steam'requi'r'ed to avoid clinker would be yinsufficient-'for preventing damage to the' Vbrick-work by the secondary combustion and in' such.case it is evident that an 'economy' l1s effected by using 'only the amount of steam necessaryfor preventing clinker and supplementing itI withl incombustible roducts of combustion introduced to the urn- 111g products of producer gas in order to regulate and control the temperature elects of the secondary combustion in respect to the safety of the brick-Work of the'retort chamber and of the retorts. The volume of steam practically required pto be passed through a fire oit fuel of ordinarily good quality to avoid clinker is about thirty-one cubic feet per pound of carbon consumed and its 'weight is about one and onequarter pounds. Contrasted -With this the volume of combustion products that Would have to be passed through a like lire for the same purpose is sercnty-eight cubic feet per pound of carbon consumed and its Weight would he over six pounds.

Evidently if the steam through the fire were relied upon for both the fire and retort temperature control, the quantity of it required for the fire control might be Wholly inappropriate for the retort temperature control. Furthermore While it is desirable to use steam through the re because it can, bv reason ot its pressure, be cheaply put through the tire, it is undesirable to use steam for the retort Chamber control because all steam used is finally Wasted by going up the stack. lVhile products of co1nbustion cost nothing and fire easily introducedto the burning producer gas, still it is expensive by reason ot' their great weight and volume to force thenrthrough the fire or fuel bed; whereas their .introduction into the burning producer gas is not only easy but eiiicient and not wasteful of heat. At some times the quality of fuel may be so good that no steam or other cooling agent is necessary in order to avoid clinker, and in such cases the independent regulation of the retort chamber temperature is particu larly advantageous.

By the described process the advantages of each plan are attained and disadvantages of each is avoided and the com bination of the two giif'es an eeient, economical and easy control of the temperatures throughout the setting, including the temperature of the tire, such as has not heretofore been attained.

lVhat I claim is:

l. The process of heating coal carboni@n ing chambers which. consists in geen producer gas from av fire with air, burning the producer gas 'with secondary air to heat.- said chamber and seperately controlling the lire and chamber temperatures by passing sufficient steam through the fire to keep its temperature below that required for the for mation of clinlrer or for injury to structural material and by adding to the burning producer gas a dilucnt consisting o incombustible products of combustion, substantially as described.

The process ing chambers which consists in generating producer gas from a fire with air, burning the producer gas with secondary air to heat said chamber and separately controllingv the rc and chamber temperatures by passing suicient steam through the re to keep its temperature loelouv that required for thel formation of clinlrer or for injury to struc tural material and by adding to the combue' tion of producer gas an incombustible dihunt, substantially as described.

lu testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name.

JOHN M. RUSBY.

lWituesses:

CLIFFORD K. Gasser, FRANK E. FRENCH.

of heating coal carboniz- 

